A new startup incubator has just opened in Manhattan this morning, adding to a growing list of facilities meant to help support seedling New York City biotechs. LaunchLabs, first announced by Alexandria Real Estate Equities a year ago, officially opened its doors and revealed the 13 startups that will grow there. LaunchLabs is a 15,000-square-foot […]

Online shoppers looking to score bargains during the Nordstrom anniversary sale instead faced glitches.The Seattle department store chain apologized, tweeting that it was working to resolve the issue.Frustrated shoppers took to social media to vent, with one saying it was “unbelievable” that Nordstrom wasn’t ready to handle the traffic on such a big shopping day.Uber is ceding control of the Russian market by agreeing to merge its ride-hailing business in the country with Yandex, the Russian search-engine leader that also runs a popular taxi-booking app.For Uber, the deal marks the exit from another big market after it sold its operations in China last year to local rival Didi Chuxing.The CEO of Yandex Taxi, Tigran Khudaverdyan, will become the chief executive of the combined company.Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the second straight week.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to an average 4.03 percent from 3.96 percent last week.The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate home loans, popular with homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, rose to 3.29 percent last week from 3.22 percent.Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week, as the number of people seeking benefits has stayed near historic lows pointing to a robust job market.The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has fallen 8.8 percent over the past 12 months to 1.9 million.The job market appears solid as the U.S. enters its ninth year of recovery from the Great Recession.Consistent hiring has helped sustain the gradual recovery, although the expansion is starting to show its age as the pace of job gains has slowed this year.An investment group led by a former Chicago alderman and a coalition of labor unions are the new owners of the Chicago Sun-Times, officials announced Thursday.“We are investing in a journalistic voice that’s genuine, accurate and consistently reporting news that matters to the people of Chicago,” said former Alderman Edwin Eisendrath, who will serve as CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times, said in an email.Eisendrath, who left the City Council when President Bill Clinton appointed him to a Department of Housing and Urban Development post, submitted a bid last month after Sun-Times owner Wrapports LLC announced it would enter into discussions with Tronc Inc., which owns the rival Chicago Tribune.